The Final Battle
by theKyra
Summary: When the Irken Armada's actions cause the other races to declare allout war, Zim is chosen as Irk's representative, along with GIR. Little does he know that Dib and his new partner are coming, as well as many others. ZimxOC, TakxDibxOC warning. ON HIATUS
1. Prologue

The ruby-eyed Irken looked away from his work as a screen flashed to life, showing two very irritated Tallest. Zim's gaze flew to the screen as he saluted and said, "This is quite unexpected, my Tallest."

The red-eyed Tallest ignored the statement and replied stiffly, "Zim, you've been appointed to fight for the entire Irken Empire in a huge war that's spanning the galaxy. You're to report to Hobo 13 as soon as possible."

Zim's eyes were filled with delight as he answered, "This is a great honor, my Tallest!"

The purple-eyed Tallest shrugged, and muttered through a half-eaten donut, "It's because you're expendable."

---

Dib stared at his computer screen with disbelief. Zim was being sent somewhere to fight in a war that was including the _entire_ galaxy? It couldn't be true! Or could it? "Wait...Earth is part of the galaxy, so doesn't that mean that Earth should be included? But there's no one who'll believe me..." Suddenly, Dib was reminded of one of the most prominent members of the Swollen Eyeball Network, Agent Silvereyes, who had met aliens before. "Well, I've never talked to her before, so maybe she'll believe me about Zim!"

Franticly, he pulled up a screen and opened a connection to Agent Silvereyes. A dark figure with cold silver eyes appeared on the screen and growled, "You're Agent Mothman, aren't you? What do you want?"

Dib nodded and replied, "I have a recorded video feed from the house of an alien that lives in my area. Apparently there's some sort of galaxy-wide war going on, and-"

The silver-eyed female interrupted him, "Show me, Mothman."

The large-headed kid pulled up his recording on his computer, and moved to the side so that Silvereyes could see. As it finished, she ordered, "Get the coordinates of wherever the alien is going, and find a way of getting there. I should be at your location by nightfall."

"I'll check Zim's data for the coordinates and see you then, Agent Silvereyes," Dib replied.

She narrowed her eyes and added, "Call me Myra, Mothman." As the screen faded to black, Dib turned to his computer and began searching Zim's files for Hobo 13. Within moments, a match appeared in his search. He clicked on it, and the computer immediately began decoding the file. The coordinates flashed up onto the screen.

Dib punched the air triumphantly and half-ran, half-jumped out of his chair. Dashing over to the window, the large-headed kid jumped onto the cord and slid down. He slammed into the garage door and fell to the ground. He quickly got up, rubbing his throbbing head, and ran inside as soon as the door opened.

**A/N: Wow... that's probably the shortest prologue I've ever written. xDDDD**

**LOL. Chapter One coming on October 1st!**

**EDIT:: Holy crap. I can't believe I forgot a whole section of the prologue! Sorry!**

**ANOTHER EDIT:: My brain meats have turned into jelly today. I repeated a whole section when I last editted this... I'm a moron. GAH! .>**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:: I'm so sorry I updated a day late!**

**Can you all forgive me?**

**Chapter One:**

"Finally," Dib muttered, as he sat inside the alien ship. It had taken three hours just to get the ship to let him inside, and another five to fix several parts that were broken. After that, it had taken three hours to download most of his data off his computer and into the ship's hard drive. And that brought him to six in the evening, with the sun setting and the sky darkening.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and a yell erupted from inside the house. "GO AWAY! I'M BUSY!"

Dib ran out of the garage, immediately spotting a tall fifteen-year-old girl. Her skin was a tanned beige, and her braided white-blond hair reached partway down her back. She wore a light brown sleeveless shirt, a pair of knee-length denim shorts, and sandals. The eleven-year-old kid headed for her, and as he stopped, said, "Sorry about Gaz. She hates it when-"

The girl turned to face him and held up a hand, signaling him to stop. "You are...?"

"I'm Dib," he answered.

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "I didn't realize your head was so big," she commented.

Dib clenched his fist, trying to resist the urge to yell that his head was not big. Unfortunately, he only half succeeded. "My head's not big," he said under his breath.

"Has your alien done anything?"

He shook his head. "No. He hasn't left his base for anything."

She nodded, and thought for a moment. As she gazed into the distance, Dib noticed how strange her eyes looked. They were a very pale silver, and glowed with... something. _Happiness? Nope. Fury? Nah. Wait... revenge?_

"Do you have the planet coordinates and a way to get off the planet?"

Her sudden question took the large-headed kid by surprise. "Huh?"

Her left eye twitched irritably.

Dib decided rather quickly that he should say something. _What, I don't know._ "Ummm... I have an alien spaceship that is in working condition."

"And the coordinates?"

He grinned. "I hacked Zim's files. The coordinates weren't hard to find."

"Good," she replied. "Keep an eye on the alien's movements, and tell me when he is about to leave. Now, where is your TV? The season finale for my favorite show is airing in twenty minutes."

---

The ruby-eyed Irken shoved the last box into the back of the Voot Cruiser, two spider legs holding the piles in. "GIR!" Zim yelled. "GET YOUR STUFF UP HERE!"

A moment passed. Zim's eyes narrowed.

Another moment past. The door opened and a little robot stepped into the room, a rubber piggy tucked under one arm and a SuckMonkey in the other hand. "Hi Mastah!" Gir squealed. "Where we goin'?"

Two more spider legs extended from the Irken's PAK and began pulling down the door, jumping back just before the door shut. "We're going to Hobo 13, Gir. And no singing on the way there."

As Zim climbed into the Voot, Gir sighed. "Awww... I wanted to sing my new song."

"Oh well."

---

Her feet propped up on the coffee table and her arms behind her head, Myra sat on the couch, watching the season finale of her favorite show- Twisted Times, a show that took real news stories of murders and the like and twisted them into amusing fantasies. Then, came Mothman's yell from upstairs.

"Zim's Cruiser is starting to leave his house!"

The violet-haired girl sitting on the other end of the couch, GS2 in hand, snarled under her breath, "Alien stalker."

Myra, with a roll of her silver eyes, snatched up the remote and shut off the TV. "Then let's get going!" she yelled in reply.

Moments later, Dib came pounding down the stairs with his laptop in hand. As he headed for the garage door, in the kitchen, Myra stood up and followed, moving a bit quicker than usual.

Once inside the garage, Dib wordlessly entered Tak's ship, motioning for his companion to follow. She did, somewhat awkwardly, and the canopy closed as soon as she entered. The ship had obviously been built for a smaller being, probably one that was a bit taller than Dib. Being a little less than twice as tall as him, Myra had to lean over almost all the way as she moved over to the side and sat down, careful not to bump her head on the ceiling. Curiously, she watched as Dib turned on the ship and navigated it out of the garage and into the sky, quickly entering the atmosphere. As the ship gained speed and ascended farther, Myra noted with interest that the ship didn't seem to be effected by the atmosphere at all, compared to human spaceships and shuttles. "Impressive," she breathed.

Not long after they left the atmosphere, Myra spotted a small purplish dot in the distance. As it rapidly grew larger, she smirked. Dib's ship was better than the alien's- wherever he got it, its owner must have been smarter or of a more intelligent race than this one. They quickly caught up with the Voot Cruiser, though Dib was careful to stay a bit behind, in case Zim had cameras of some sort in the back of his ship. "Zim's left to go to this planet in the past, and he was back in a little over a day," the black-haired kid said. "I've compared the coordinates and hacked a map of the galaxy from Zim's computer, and then computed this ship's maximum speed. All in all, it shouldn't be much more than a half hour. An hour, at the most, if Zim keeps going this slow."

The blond girl shrugged. "That's fine by me. There's plenty to do in this little ship of yours, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get to the planet before I'm done."

"Are you sure?" Dib asked. "You could borrow my laptop, if you want."

Myra smirked. "I highly doubt there's anything of much interest on there. Besides, I want to learn how the control panel works. It's activated by your touch, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Who owned it before you?"

"Tak. She's an Irken, like Zim, that came to Earth about five-six months ago. After Zim and I foiled her plan to destroy the Earth, she disappeared, and her ship landed in my backyard. Gaz and I fixed it up, and I flew it to the moon last month."

"Our moon, or another planet's?"

"Ours."

Myra sniggered. "That's not very far. We passed the moon about five minutes ago."

---

Fourty filthy Earth minutes. That's all the time it took for Zim to reach Hobo 13, the ultimate military training planet. As the Voot Cruiser touched down on the dusty ground, the canopy opened and Gir immediately hopped out. Zim followed slightly more slowly, as he spotted members of various races also gathered there. Gir sat down with his pig and now-empty SuckMonkey, and began to play with the dirt. The ruby-eyed Irken noticed that many of the others had begun to stare at him angrily, and he hastily decided to stay with the Voot. Murder shone in their eyes. Murder of Irkens.

Instead, Zim gazed at the sky, a pale brown-yellow color, with a large sun hovering overhead. Suddenly, he spotted a familiar ship lowering to the ground. A ship that previously belonged to his Irken enemy, and now belonged to his human opponent. "Dib," he hissed.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

Dib was the first human to climb out of the ship, followed almost immediately by a girl-creature of meat and whitish-yellow hair. In Zim's opinion, even the smallest human cell was filth that must be disposed of and kept away. Infuriated by the sight of Dib, he stalked over, death in his eyes. "Go back to your homeplanet, human filth!"

The blond human girl stepped in front of Dib, blocking Zim from doing anything. As the Irken got closer, he realized with a jolt that she was nearly twice as tall as him. Inside, he cowered in fear, but Irken soldiers _never_ show their fear. Outside, he stayed just as aggressive and furious, despite his shock. She gazed at him, looking him over, and Zim could feel her icy silver eyes penetrating his outer shell. After a few moments, she commented nonchallantly to Dib, "So, this is your alien? It looks vaguely familiar, but I don't know why.. Either way, it's quite small, isn't it?"

Zim narrowed his eyes farther, almost to slits. "Dib-human, get off the planet," he snarled. As he spoke, he mentally sent a command to his PAK- 'search all memory, even restricted sections, for any humans similar to this tall one'. As his PAK immediately began its search, Zim's attention turned back to the human filth.

The human girl smirked- oh, how DARE she smirk at the mighty Zim! "You do realize, that the battle is between _all_ the races of the galaxy, don't you?" she said smugly. "We've got just as much right to be here as you do."

Just as he was about to reply, a small transport ship with a logo vaguely similar to the Armada logo landed nearby. All three, humans and Irken alike, turned to stare as six odd Irkens piled out. The one that seemed to command the most authority was an abnormally tall female with light blue skin, covered in dark green markings. Her eyes were crimson, like Zim's, and she walked in the lead. One that seemed particularly aggressive was rather normal in appearance, apart from his dark blue eyes and two flags on the ends of his antennae. He wore a black shirt and leggings, and a brown cloak was wrapped around his shoulders. A third and fourth were together, one that looked particularly clever and one that seemed gentle. The latter had multi-colored eyes and a golden-colored dress, and was rather pretty. The former had pale gray skin, gold eyes, and crooked antennae. The fifth seemed to have no particular role within the group, and had mottled amber skin and blue-violet eyes. The sixth, an albino, seemed to become a part of the shadows. She had milky white skin and dark gold eyes, and her antennae were a dark bronze color.

Zim, mouth agape, stared in shock at the six. They were like no Irkens he'd ever seen, but their general appearance and PAKs confirmed them as Irken. Most certainly defects, at any rate. Quickly, his shock was replaced by curiousity, and he boldly strode over, approaching the tall, light blue female. So that he wouldn't have to look up, Zim deployed his spider legs, boosting himself up, so that his face was level with the female's. "I was supposed to be the only Irken here," he said, a slight sneer curving his mouth. "So tell me why you six defectives are here."

She smirked, clearly at ease with the situation. "We come from three different planets on the far edge of the galaxy. I believe the rules were two representatives for each planet, not each race," she retorted.

"The Tallest are commanders of the entire Armada and the whole Irken race, alongside the Control Brains. Unless you were sent by them, you aren't supposed to be here," Zim snarled.

As the tall female's eyes widened in horror, the albino appeared out of nowhere, and stood beside her. Calmly, the white-skinned female replied, "The Armada does not control our planets. We are an independent branch of the Irken race, built up of those who still carry the genes of the traditional Irken breeds. We are ruled by a council of the six tallest Irkens on our three planets at any time, and it is they who sent us here."

Disbelief shone in his ruby eyes, and he quickly searched his personal records of Irken history. There was absolutely no mention of an independent branch. As he searched, the albino chuckled, a soft, knowing laugh. "The traditional breeds aren't a part of the history stored in your PAK. You have a version designated by the Control Brains, who cut our groups out. We have the complete history stored in our PAKs."

The blue female nodded, having recovered from her stunned horror. "We have different ways from your types. We are more peaceful, and no Irken is defective in our book, no matter what... anyone else says." She paused a moment, then suggested, "Mist, why don't you give him a taste of our PAKs?"

The albino shrugged, and deployed all four spider legs, each with a different attachment. The first was familiar to Zim- the laser attachment. But this one was more advanced, and as she blasted a nearby rock with it, he noticed that it was much more powerful than his own. The next leg had a very thin attachment that seemed to be fairly sharp. The tall blue female pulled a locked box from her own PAK, and the albino inserted the leg into the lock. She withdrew it, and the box popped open. _A lock pick. Impressive,_ Zim thought. The third was clearly some sort of charger. As the blue female held up an old SIR model that was deactivated completely, the other touched the charger to the metal. A moment passed, and the SIR jumped onto the ground, completely charged. She touched the charger to the SIR again, and it collasped, powerless.

"It both gives power and takes power from electrical objects," the blue female explained, somewhat proudly.

The fourth, and final, attachment was vaguely familiar to Zim, however, he couldn't place it at first. Then, he realized what it was. A multi-use tool, which was designed by Vortian scientists for use in ship repairs. Broken or torn wire? Put it back together, good as new. Cracks in the outer shell? Seal them up quickly and easily. Anything else? Most any problem in your ship can be solved with the tool. Zim had always wanted one, but after the conquering of Vort, the Armada had forbidden any sale of Vortian products. And before the conquering of Vort, he'd always been too busy or didn't have enough monies to buy one.

Suddenly, an irritated yell from the humans attracted his attention. "Hey! Irken scum!" Dib yelled. "We weren't done with you!"

Zim turned, angered again. "Why should I talk to you, Dibstink?" he retorted furiously. "I'd rather be with this lot, speaking my own language and not a filthy one like yours."

The human girl grinned. "He's got a point, Dib. If you didn't notice, he wasn't speaking English just then."

A surprised expression appeared on the big-headed child's face. "He wasn't? Sounded pretty normal to me, Myra."

She gasped, while Zim tried to figure out what Dib meant. "That was a completely different language!" she responded, shocked.

Then, the ruby-eyed Irken realized just what Dib said. "You... understand Irken?" he mumbled. Then, louder, Zim yelled, "LIES! FILTHY EARTH LIES!"

Dib narrowed his eyes, focusing on Zim. "I've been watching you talk with your leaders, GIR, and yourself for over a year, Zim. I've learned how to speak and understand your native language. I can't really tell the difference now." Thoughtfully, he paused for a moment. "Though, I never understood why you could speak English from the beginning."

Zim smirked. "All Irken PAKs are equipped with the ability to understand, speak, and read any language. I had to learn how to write your filthy language, however."

Myra, now somewhat over her shock, darkly snarled, "What are we supposed to be doing here, anyway?"

The gray-skinned Irken female stepped out of the group, and replied, in perfect English, "I believe that the original declaration of war stated that all representatives were to meet on the planet Hobo 13 to fight. The Irken Armada gets the joy of eliminating each planet that loses. It's all some fancy new battle style that the Meekrob and Vortians designed. Personally, I prefer sending armies out to fight to the death and winning by sheer numbers, but then, the Irkens would outnumber everyone else."

Myra snorted. "And how many Irkens are there?"

"About 4.1 billion that are ruled by the Control Brains, and 2.7 billion from our three planets. All in all, the Irken race totals 6.8 billion," the blue-eyed male answered.

She shrugged. "The human race is about 7.3 billion, I believe."

"7.2," Dib corrected.

"7.2 billion, then. Either way, we outnumber you Irkens."

Zim sniggered. "You humans are too stupid to even know that an intergalactic war is going on. You wouldn't even know, if you couldn't hack into my computers."

"We don't even have a fleet of spaceships," Dib mumbled.

The gray Irken female sighed, a bored expression covering her face. "Are we ever going to even fight? Sitting here and chatting about populations is pointless."

"True," the tall blue-skinned female added. "Who is the idiot that's supposed to run this sort of thing."

The albino whispered something, and the blue-skinned Irken muttered, "Oh... so that's how it works.. So, we're supposed to all decide how we want to settle this? That's hardly fair, really."

"How's that?" Myra asked, more to give the impression that she was in charge of the humans, than to actually know.

"Well, there are seven Irkens here, and only two of every other race. And, besides, nearly every race in the galaxy hates Irkens."

The albino smirked. "There are _nine_ Irkens on this planet, Nirri."

Zim glanced around, counting up the strange Irkens and himself. "No, seven."

Mist pointed towards the horizon, where two short Irkens stood. "Nine."

The short red-eyed Irken, taking advantage of his ocular implants, took a closer look at the two Irkens. As he realized who they were, his jaw fairly dropped. "It can't be!" he said, disbelieving his eyes.

The two Irkens on the horizon were Tak, who'd disappeared into space, and Skoodge, who'd been attacked by a Hogulus. Despite the lack of detail, he could tell that they were both in rough condition, and, amazingly, Skoodge seemed a tiny bit taller than before. Tak seemed to be holding her weight off of her right leg, which didn't quite seem... right.

By this time, the female with multicolored eyes and the albino had set off to go join the two other Irkens, skirting the various clusters of other races. Zim merely stared in shock, as Dib and Myra tried to tell who it was. After several moments of conversing with the newcomers, the two 'traditional' Irkens led them back, casting fierce glances at the several other races that were drawing weapons.

When the newcomers were close enough that the humans could identify them, Dib gasped and took a step back."Tak," he said quietly.

As Tak approached, she immediately spotted Zim, and with fury in her gaze, she sneered, "Stop gawking, you fool. Where did you think I've been?"

Then she spotted her ship.

And the two humans standing in front of it.

She limped towards Dib and hissed, "Is that _my_ ship?"

"Uhh...no?" the large-headed kid answered.

**A/N:: The third chapter isn't even CLOSE to being finished, so you lot will have to wait until I do happen to finish. Yes, I'm evil. Get over it, lol.**


	4. Chapter 3

Tak's infuriated glare focused on him first, then drifted to Myra. When she realized that the blond human was much taller than her, she quickly switched back to glaring at Dib. "Where did you get _my_ship?" she asked angrily.

"It.. uh...," Dib began.

Quickly, Myra interrupted, "We found it abandoned on the Earth's moon, and because you left it behind for anyone to take, it now belongs to us."

Zim stepped towards them, an evil grin on his face. "It fell in Dib's backyard, and he somehow convinced it that _it_ was Dib," he said, a malicious note in his voice.

The purple-eyed Irken female hissed, "What did you do to _my_ ship, Dib?"

"I... eh.. tried to overwrite your downloaded personality, and the ship then thought that it was me," Dib said, struggling to explain, "And Zim took control of it, and was going to throw it in the cesspool, if I hadn't stopped him," he finished, casting a triumphant glare at Zim.

Tak's glare turned towards the shorter Irken, who automatically screeched, "HE LIES!"

"I'm sure that Dib is smart enough to know not to lie," she snarled, "_isn't he_?"

He nodded hastily, as Myra crossed her arms and sighed exasperately. "Someone please tell me that I'm not the only one that's bored out of their mind."

The albino female shrugged, and said in perfect English, "Same here."

"Y'know, it might help to know who we all are," the blue-skinned Irken suggested.

Several of the other Irkens nodded. "Nirri, you start," declared the one with pale gray skin. The others quickly voiced their agreement.

The blue-skinned one laughed, "Just 'cause I got appointed leader." Looking around at the various groups of aliens, she spoke in English, for the humans' sake, "I'm Nirri, inhabitant of the planet Kai." She glanced at the albino, signaling her to go next.

"My name's Mist, from Wiev," the gold-eyed Irken introduced herself.

The blue-eyed male spoke next. "Xan, from Alarr."

"I'm Anla," the female with mottled amber skin said, "and I'm from Kai as well."

The female that had requested Nirri to speak first went next, "I'm Night, and I'm from Weiv."

The last one, the female with multicolored eyes, added, "I'm from planet Alarr, and my name is Star."

Nirri snickered softly, ignoring the glare that Star shot her. Mist looked towards Zim and the others, and asked, "Well, are you going to say anything?"

Zim stood straighter and called out, "I am ZIM!"

"Don't bother with the planet," Star said, before he could continue. "We all know where you're from."

Gir, who'd amazingly managed to stay quiet for the whole time, squealed, "Mastah, I wanna 'nother SuckMonkey!"

Zim glared at the little robot, who refused to be silenced.

Anla chuckled, and asked, "What model is that?"

The red-eyed male's glare traveled to her, as he growled, "It's an advanced SIR unit."

"Standard-issue Information Retrieval unit, eh?" she muttered, eyeing Gir carefully. Decisively, she looked back at Zim and said, "That's a prototype of the SIR unit, not an advanced version." She turned to Gir and asked, "What's your name?"

The robot's eyes flashed red as he saluted. "GIR, reporting for duty."

She grinned darkly back at Zim. "That's definitely a prototype. Don't you know what the 'G' stands for?"

"But the Tallest said that he's advanced," he pouted. "And, come to think of it, Gir doesn't know either."

Anla laughed, and Nirri sighed. "Anyway, we still don't know who the rest of you are," she said, looking pointedly at Tak and Skoodge.

Tak narrowed her eyes and answered, "I'm Tak."

Saluting, her short companion declared, "Invader Skoodge, conqueror of Blorch."

Night gazed at him curiously and asked, "Isn't that the home of the Slaughtering Rat People?"

"Yeah, it was... but now it's a parking lot."

Xan sniggered, "The Empire needs a parking lot about as much as they like defectives."

Night shoved him, her gold eyes flashing playfully. "Shut your noise-tube, Xan."

Nirri cast them an irritated glare, a glint in her crimson-colored eyes. "Night, Xan, cool it."

Both bored out of their minds, Dib and Myra leaned against Tak's ship. The younger human gazed at the sky dully, watched the orange clouds roll by slowly, while the older teen was staring into space, her silver eyes unfocused.

Tak, also bored with the conversation, glanced over at them with a slight smirk. "Hey, bighead, bored yet?" she asked, a mocking note in her voice.

Dib didn't even look at her as he replied, "Yeah."

Myra suddenly blinked, her eyes quickly refocusing. "Did you think to bring along any food, Dib?" she inquired, her barely-visible eyebrows narrowed irritably.

"What? Oh, yeah, there should be a box with stuff in it," he responded.

She rolled her eyes and, heading back to the ship, muttered, "That doesn't tell me where it is." She climbed into the ship and gazed around for several moments before realizing that there must be a storage hold somewhere close to the back. She pressed the first button she saw, which revealed a fairly good-sized compartment behind the wall. She dragged out the box that had "food" hastily scribbled on in marker, and dug through it. Finally pulling out a bag of nuts, she shoved the box back in and pressed the button again, leaving the ship as she tore open the bag. '_Walnuts, peanuts, and cashews,_' she noted in her thoughts, munching on the small handful she'd just placed in her mouth. '_Good thing I'm not allergic to peanuts._'

Myra closed the compartment back up and left the ship, leaning against the front of it. "Am I the only one who thinks it might help to set up a camp of some sort?" she questioned, pointing one hand at the sun, which was nearing the far-off horizon.

Nirri glanced in the direction that the human girl pointed, and shrugged. "Day, night, there's not much of a difference."

Dib gazed at the conversing females curiously. "To us, there is. We're human- we can't see well in the dark," he pointed out.

Nirri nodded as she listened. "Do you humans like bonfires and camping?" she asked.

"Sure, I guess. But what do-"

"It'll be like camping. Night, Xan, would you two mind setting up a campsite?" She glanced around, counting up the numbers. "One large tent for meetings, and six small ones for personal chambers. Anla, would you and Star set up a bonfire?"

Dib blinked. "Well, that works," he responded.

"What about them?" Myra asked, gesturing at the various other races gathered nearby.

Nirri shrugged. "They prob'ly hate our guts. I'll tell them that we're holding a meeting to decide how to settle this when the sun is at its highest point tomorrow."

"So, noon." Myra shrugged. "Alright, then."

* * *

The camp had been effeciently set up before darkness fell, and the bonfire roared in the middle of the cluster of Irkens and humans. Nirri, the rogue Irkens' leader, shared a tent with Anla, the techie. Xan, the warrior of the group, shared a tent with Night, the clever gray-skinned female. Mist, the mysterious albino, shared her tent with Star, the group's healer. Zim and GIR had a tent to themselves, after he refused to share with Skoodge or Dib, claiming them 'inferior'. Thus, Dib and Skoodge were stuck together. Tak and Myra shared, though Myra kept to her half and the same went for Tak, who was more than slightly suspicious of the tall human. In the meeting tent, Nirri, Tak, Skoodge, Zim, and Star had gathered, though everyone was more than certainly welcome. Dib hovered by the entrance, unnoticed, while Star tended to Tak's broken leg as they talked. 

"Zim, the Tallest think you're an idiot. A defective. You were sent to Earth as an _exile_, not as an Invader on a mission!" Tak sneered, her dark eyes flashing with anger and frustration.

Skoodge nodded slightly. "She's right about the defective part," he commented, though his voice gave away his mixed loyalties. "I don't know if they still are, but they've been broadcasting your calls all across the Empire- everyone thinks you're a joke."

Tak snorted, as Zim stubbornly responded, "ZIM was sent to the filthy Earth planet to conquer it for the Empire, not as a joke. If Zim was a joke, then why was he sent to represent the entire Armada?"

"They think you're expendable- they sent you here so you'd get murdered by everyone else," she retorted.

Nirri had to stop herself from laughing as she said, "If we weren't here, it would've happened."

Zim scowled, but he had to admit they were right. An Irken on its own could be defeated, though it'll take quite a few with them. Get a group of Irkens together, and only the insane would try to fight them. "What about _you_, then, Tak? If I'm defective AND I actually _completed_ the training, what does that make you?"

She smirked. "Not a food drone, at the very least."

Zim glared at her angrily. "How'd you know that?"

"I've been to Shloogorgh's, moron. It's pretty obvious when you see the 'wanted' signs floating outside."

Skoodge nodded grimly. "You're not encoded as an Invader anymore, Zim."

Tak grinned evilly. "You haven't been for quite a long time, either."

Zim angrily gazed at both of them, then an idea sparked in his head. The crimson-eyed male pointed an accusing claw at Tak as he responded, "You've never been an Invader! So what does that make you, huh?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but Zim stopped her. "Huh?" he repeated.

She scowled. When she was sure he wouldn't interrupt again, she restarted. "I _was_ an Elite.. you ruined it, though. I got reencoded to a janitorial drone, as you know," she explained, anger evident in her tone. "But what you _don't_ know: I reencoded myself after you destroyed my plan to get my rank back. I'm currently encoded as a technician, in honor my my _other_ talents."

Nirri sniggered slightly. "You see, I've always found PAK encoding a pointless endeavor. What bonus does it give you? Any? Or none at all?"

Skoodge's eyes brightened at this and he nodded rapidly. "Exactly!" he exclaimed, drawing an odd glance from Tak and Zim. He smiled sheepishly and explained, "After the incident with the Hogulus beast-thing, I found a safe spot to hide, and I thought about how things are in the Empire. I realized that many of our systems are pointless. Other races managed without control freaks watching their every move, so why can't we?"

"Other races haven't achieved galactic conquest," Zim pointed out darkly, still stubbornly supporting the Irken Empire.

"Y'know what... Zim, is it?" He nodded as Nirri continued, "Well, Zim, what I want to point out is that in your precious Empire, Irkens aren't treated equally. Height is a stupid thing to choose leaders over. Anyone lucky enough to be tall get to laze off like royalty, while the short ones-like you-are stuck doing the slave work. Every Irken, big and small, back home are treated according to what they've done, not how tall they are. If you happen to be talented in battle, you can be a fighter if that's what you're looking for. Your life is the product of _your_ time and effort. Many artificial Irkens such as yourselves have already accepted the fact that your government is corrupted and they're free as birds."

Skoodge blinked. He hadn't been expecting this much support, and from a decently-tall female, that was something. "Free as a bird... sounds nice." He paused, then asked abruptly, "What are birds?"

Nirri chuckled. "They don't exist on Irk. Once upon a time, Irkens were still the dominant species, but _they_ were the birds."

"Eh?"

She sighed. "Irkens were winged, a really long time ago. Before we split off."

"Oh, I see now."

Tak had been listening intently, and she questioned, "Then why don't we still have wings?"

Star looked up, finally taking part in the conversation. "Because we don't need them anymore. Over time we evolved so that we only had tiny nubs on our shoulder blades- that was around the time of the Great Joining, when the tribes all joined together. Now artificial Irkens have nothing remaining of their wings, though some traditionals have nubs. Once in a while, we get someone who has tiny wings that aren't good for much but standing up."

Nirri grinned, revealed zipper-like teeth with sharper, more angled edges than normal. "I've got a bit more than nubs, but they're not exactly wings either. Kind of like long nubs." Slipping her sweater-like top over her head to reveal another, tighter fitting one, she turned her back to them. Indeed, on either side of her PAK were two protruding nub-like things.

Tak gazed in wonder. "Now you lot are making me want wings... that'd be fascinating."

"And it'd he a hell of a lot harder to dress," Zim pointed out, smirking.

Tak scowled at him, though her eyes remained bright. "We manage to dress, even with the PAK. Can't be that much harder with wings."

Nirri smiled grimly. "My sister's daughter- my niece- is one of the few that _do_ have wings, and hers are unnaturally large too- about half of the wingspans that we had so long ago. She has to fix all of her clothing so she can wear it comfortably."

Tak shrugged, as Skoodge asked, "So, how did we go from talking about being defective to having wings?"

Zim responded, "I dunno. Something about birds."

Tak snickered. "Anyway, back to the point. We're all defective, and Zim, you're too stubborn to accept it. Swallow your giant ego for once and get it in your head. You. Are. DEFECTIVE."

The crimson-eyed male's expression darkened. "I am a functioning member of Irken society," he declared stubbornly.

Nirri and Dib rolled their eyes simultaneously, and the blue-skinned female said, "You'l have to face the facts eventually." Standing, she stretched. "Well, I'm off to my tent. Anla and I are going to come up with some possible plans for tomorrow."

Dib left the tent then, and went to sit by Myra, who sat on a makeshift bench by the bonfire.

"I could really use some marshmallows and chocolate right now," he commented wistfully, gazing at the fire. "It's been _years_ since I last had s'mores..."

She didn't seem to notice, absorbed in her own thoughts. "There's something familiar about that tiny alien of yours," she murmured at last. "I'm sure I know him from somewhere, but I've no clue where."

Dib blinked, turning his head to stare at her. A reflection of the fire danced in her pale eyes, and her long hair had been let loose from its braid, hanging down limply. He wanted to ask her what she meant, but he knew what happened when you pester a fellow Eyeball- they start ignoring you.

"Mothman, do you know roughly how long your alien's been around?"

Dib shrugged, having never thought about Zim's specific age. "Well, he's been on Earth for maybe a year and a half... but I don't know how old he is. If Irkens age like we do, gaining height over time, I'd guess that he's pretty young. But also, I know quite a few bits about his past, which suggests that he's much older than either you or me. GIR once said that Zim was fifteen or something like that... but why do you want to know?"

"No reason." She stood abruptly and headed inside a nearby tent- the one she shared with Tak.

Dib watched her go, confused. As he stood to head for his own tent, he muttered, "Maybe it's a girl thing."

**Author's Note:: I'm SO sorry for the wait- I had a creative slump and couldn't bear to write ANYTHING at all. :( I'm glad I finally got my writing spirit back- I'm already partway through Chapter Four, so be ready for another update at any time. ;)**


	5. Chapter 4

The night passed, though Dib swore that it took forever for the sun to rise. The two humans slept for awhile, waking up sometime before sunrise. The Irkens... did whatever Irkens do (though Myra later claimed that she knew precisely what was going on in Night and Xan's tent).

In Myra and Tak's tent, the purple-eyed female watched her companion sleep, very interested, having never seen a human at rest before. Her broken leg had been set by Star, and it was propped up on a spare sleeping bag while she waited for her PAK to start the healing process (at last). She occasionally pulled out a book, but quickly grew bored. By the time that Myra had woken, Tak had taken out the mangled remains of MiMi.

It was Myra's turn to stare, before she asked, "What's that?"

Tak glanced up and scowled. "Ever seen a robot before?" At Myra's annoyed expression, she added, "One that can think on its own, mind you."

The human indignantly glared at her, but continued to watch.

Tak rolled her eyes, grabbing a few tools out of her PAK as she began to repair MiMi's memory chip and thought processor.

Elsewhere in the camp, Zim was sulking in his tent, while GIR watched intergalactic TV back on the traditionals' ship. "Zim is a joke," he muttered angrily. "Zim will show them... _I_ will show them what it truly means to be Irken..."

"Hello?" a quiet, wary voice asked from just outside the tent. A pale gray hand pulled back the entrance flap, letting the fading moonlight in. "We're holding breakfast in the meeting tent, if you'd like to come," Night said warmly.

Gazing at her, Zim noticed with more than a bit of surprise that she was only half dressed. The gray female wore a thin top that left most of her stomach bare, as well as what looked oddly like boxer shorts.

She scowled when she noticed his stare and said, "Don't act like you've never seen a girl out of her uniform before, moron."

He blinked and forced himself to look at her face instead. "I haven't," he replied simply.

She shrugged, though her golden eyes watched him, almost longingly. "We'll see you in the meeting tent, then?"

"I guess."

Breakfast was served promptly by Nirri and GIR to the gathering sitting in the meeting hall. Anla skipped on food, preferring to work on something- when asked by Myra, all she'd said was "a project", but everyone else was present. Dib and Myra sat together in a corner, still vaguely suspicious of the Irkens, and Zim sat alone, against a wall. As always, Dib observed.

The meal consisted of nonlethal ingredients, as Dib quickly found- in fact, a lot of it was similar to human food. There were waffles (though they had some kind of foreign fruit in them), slices of buttered toast (made of "azinna straw", which, according to Nirri, was a common ingredient in their bread), juice (made from yet another foreign fruit), and an oatmeal-like substance that was _squirming_ (when Dib asked, Night informed him that the 'worms' they added for flavor were usually eaten alive).

Zim, having made sure he was a good distance away from the rest, had a meager plate of toast and waffles, which he halfheartedly poked at, though GIR soon joined him. The little robot pestered Zim with questions, until he snarled a phrase in Irken that Dib had never heard before. GIR's eyes widened in shock- if that's at all possible- and he fled over to Dib, staring warily at Zim.

Myra glanced from GIR to Zim and back before she asked, "What'd he say?"

GIR whimpered, squishing up beside the black-haired male. "Scary things," the robot replied unhappily, tears forming in his eyes.

The blond girl blinked. Tears from a robot? But then again, she barely knew what Irken technology was like- surprises were going to occur.

Dib took a bite of the toast hesitantly, discovering that it was quite good, and asked, "What's he _say_, though? Can you tell us?"

GIR shook his head quietly. "Nu uh... no human words that work," he answered, apparently choking back sobs.

Night had looked up from where she sat next to Xan, eating the "oatmeal", and glanced at GIR. Guessing at what had happened, she whispered something to Xan and moved over to beside Zim.

The gray-skinned female watched him sulk for a few moments, then she asked, "What's going on?"

Zim muttered something and turned away from her, viciously tearing a piece of waffle away from his plate and stuffing it in his mouth.

"Zim," she said warmly, "You can tell me."

He grumbled something through the waffle in his mouth and scooted away from her. "Leave me alone," he said at last.

She blinked with surprise, then narrowed her eyes. "Fine, then." Returning to Xan and seeing the concerned expression on his face, she scowled and muttered something to him.

But the breakfast continued, mostly uneventful. Tak talked with Nirri about the pros and cons of all-out war, while Skoodge talked with Star about their ship.

Around the time that the food had disappeared and most of them were simply talking, Anla appeared, looking around before heading straight for the humans, something small in her three-fingered hand.

"You're the one that understands Irken, right?" she asked in English, though it had a definite tinge of an accent- perhaps their skill with languages wasn't perfect after all.

He nodded. "I can speak it too, almost as well as Eng- my first language."

"Alright." She turned her head to look at Myra, continuing, "And you don't, correct?"

"Nope," Myra responded, a hit of suspicion in her voice.

Anla said, "I've made a translator for you- I spent all night trying to duplicate the translator in our PAKs, but I just figured out part of it a few hours ago." She held out her hand, revealing a pair of earbud-like objects. "It was difficult trying to get them so they would fit the general shape of your whatchamacallits... ears, sorry. Do you mind trying them? I programmed them to translate Irken, Galactic Common, and a few other common languages into your preferred language, but they won't do anything for your speech. If you want something so you can speak in Common or Irken, just ask."

Myra blinked with surprise. Maybe now she could understand what these green weirdos were saying all the time. The teen carefully took the earbud-things, placing them in her ears hesitantly. After a moment or two, the foreign language being spoken all over the tent made sense to her- the earbuds translated it before it even got to her brain. "Impressive," she said. "But I don't think I need something to help me translate- I'd rather learn the language."

Anla smiled, relieved that they worked. "You're with the purple-eyed girl, right? Ask her to teach you sometime. But then, it wouldn't matter much if you can _speak_ the language- every Irken equipped with a PAK can understand whatever language you throw at them."

Myra nodded. Once Anla grabbed the last piece of toast off the table, she joined Nirri and Tak, occasionally adding her own two cents to their conversation.

* * *

By the time noon came around, the Irkens and humans had moved their camp closer to the other races, and had set up a large circle of boulders for seats- one boulder per pair of representatives.

At noon, the other races cautiously approached. The Vortian duo, wary of the Irkens, sat beside Dib and Myra, while the Meekrob changed into more humanoid forms, sitting on the rock beside the Irkens. The other races filled in then, more comfortable not sitting anywhere near the Irken cluster.

Nirri automatically took charge of the gathering, beginning it. "So, first order of business- you're all wondering why there are so many Irkens, aren't you?" Collective nods from most of the others. "It's not a long story, so let me explain. A long time ago, after the Kirakks split off, one group of Irkens- the traditionals- broke away from the rest- the artificials. The traditionals moved to a solar system on the edge of the galaxy and we lived in peace for a long time. Irken defects or outcasts sometimes hunted us down- albinos like Mist especially. We're up to date on galactic affairs, and yes, we have technology beyond that of the Irken Empire's. If you noticed, the rules were two reps from every _planet_, not race. Therefore, we are eligible to come, not like we wouldn't anyway. Does this help?" More nods.

Then one of the Meekrob spoke up, a female. "So then, how do we settle this? I suggest a peaceful conversation, especially since we were the original victims of the Armada's recent actions."

Then a Vortian spoke up. "We've been suffering under the Irkens' thumb for much longer than the Meekrob. Let _us_ decide how it's done."

Mist spoke then, her silky voice carrying over the others. "I suggest that we concentrate more on _how_ we go about solving this problem rather than on who's suffered most."

Nirri nodded in agreement. "I suggest all-out war, though I know most of you aren't going to want to risk millions of lives."

The suggestions continued, many of the races having their own opinions, until finally the Vortians and a tentacled race began a heated argument over something about diplomatic relations.

Nirri let them continue for a few minutes, but the moment she spotted the glint of a weapon being drawn, she declared, "No weapons, may I remind you. Put it away."

The Vortian withdrawing the handblaster put it back, grumbling, as Myra stood to speak. "Why any of these? Can't you all see that a tournament would be a better answer?"

The female Meekrob from earlier studied her, then nodded slightly. "A tournament... yes. Very clever, my friend. How would matches be assigned, exactly?"

Dib, having been uninformed on the whole situation finally caught on and suggested, "By strengths and weaknesses. We could be paired up with someone with similar strengths or skills, to make it more even."

The other Vortian nodded in agreement. "The hornling is right- if we did it randomly, we could end up with an Irken against a Meekrob, and everyone knows that they'd annihilate each other and still end in a tie. This way, the matches would make sense- like a Vortian against a Mlizan- we would make a fair fight, and it would be luck and skill that decides the winner."

Nirri agreed, "Yes, you all have a good point. A tournament would be brilliant... any volunteers to set it up?"

Nothing. A few idle whistles, but nothing more.

She snorted. "Night, Mist, could one of you do it?"

Night shrugged. "I guess."

"I don't mind." Mist nodded.

"So that's settled. Good. Shall we meet again here tomorrow or in a week with the finished matches?"

The general reply was the latter.

"Alright. We'll meet again here, same time, in a week. That's seven rises of the sun, people."

* * *

The day passed in quick order. Lunch was served to those that wanted it, and the meeting tent was almost constantly occupied by Mist and Night. Once or twice Mist went back to the ship to grab a few holo-chips, and a few times Xan came in for a while to contribute.

By sunset, they hadn't gotten much done, and Night was bored out of her mind. "I'm a strategist, not a historian," she grumbled.

Then Skoodge walked in, somewhat hesitantly. "Do you mind if I help?" he asked.

Mist looked up, her pale golden eyes fixed on him. "How much do you know about the other races?"

"Lots!" Skoodge replied enthusiastically. "I learned loads before I was sent to Blorch."

Night grinned. "Then c'mere- we could use your help."

He trotted over and sat down, before he questioned, "Can I have something to write on? It's easier than recording a holo-chip over and over again."

Mist nodded and took a small notepand and pen out of her PAK, handing it to him. "Here," she said.

Skoodge took it and quickly scribbled down the other races in shorthand Irken before jotting down their strengths and weaknesses. "Irkens are best paired against a race they haven't conquered, otherwise there'll probably be a quick surrender... perhaps against one of the other powerhouses... the Myzzians would be a fair opponent... We'll have the two from Kai fight them..."

And the former Invader continued like that, while Night and Mist watched him quickly accomplish what they'd tried to do for over six hours.

* * *

Elsewhere in the camp, Myra watched silently, once again, while Tak repaired MiMi's innards. A lot of swearing erupted in the tent when Tak crushed her finger in something. Myra snickered and offered, "Need some help?"

The purple-eyed female cursed again and shoved MiMi's scattered parts away from herself. "No, I dont," she snarled in reply.

Myra rolled her eyes and slid under the cover of the sleeping bag that she'd been given. "Well, if you're not going to work on that robot, you can help me with something."

Tak eyed her suspiciously and questioned, "And what's that?"

"Teach me how to speak Irken."

Tak blinked, her surprise evident. "You're kidding right?"

"Nope."

"You want to know _Irken_? But you're human!"

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Myra retorted.

The shorter female snorted. "Finally, someone that thinks on my level," she said, grinning. "I think that we'll be good friends."

**Author's Note: Well, there you go. Chapter four is done. Chapter five has been sent to Zim'sMostLoyalServant. And I'm typing up Chapter six right now, and currently writing chapter seven. How's that for an update? ;)**


End file.
